Arguing for a General Framework for Mass Media Scholarship

W. James Potter - University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Other Titles in:
Communication Research Methods | Mass Communication Theory | Research Methods

December 2008 | 416 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

'Arguing for a General Framework for Mass Media Scholarship challenges scholars and students to consider and reconsider what we know about media and how we think about media. As such, the book provides an important framework for thinking about knowledge—regardless of the discipline… The text provides all of the necessary tools to move the field forward in a way that will increase the rigor of the work being done and augment the overall profile of the discipline' - Dana Mastro, University of Arizona

'This book is...that call to action that comes forward every few years, to wake us up and challenge our ways of doing things, not by being radical, but via synthesis... I've been waiting for several years for a book like this' - Sahara Byrne, Cornell University

In this groundbreaking book, W. James Potter presents an innovative perspective to media scholars and students who are frustrated with the fragmentation of research findings across so many journals, books, and fields. Arguing for a General Framework for Mass Media Scholarship presents a clear plan for a more efficient way to build knowledge about the mass media so that it can be better organized and made more useful.

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Why Do We Need a General Framework?

2. Introduction to the General Framework

PART II: EXPLAINING THE MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS FACET

3. Media Media Organization Line of Thinking

4. Business Strategies

5. Marketing Strategies

6. Employment Strategies

PART III: EXPLAINING THE MEDIA AUDIENCES FACET

7. Media Audience Line of Thinking

8. Audience Cognitive Algorithms

9. Audience: Filtering Media Messages

10. Audience: Meaning Matching

11. Audience: Meaning Construction

PART IV: EXPLAINING THE MEDIA MESSAGES FACET

12. Media Message Line of Thinking

13. Message Formulas and Conventions--General

14. Message Formulas and Conventions by Genre

15. Critique of Media Message Scholarship

PART V: EXPLAINING THE MEDIA EFFECTS FACET

16. Media Effects Line of Thinking

17. Conceptualizing Media Influence and Effects

18. Designing Media Effects Studies

PART VI: CONCLUSION

19. Integration of Explanations

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Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1 - Why Do We Need a General Framework for Mass Media Thinking and Resea

Chapter 2 - Introducing the General Framework

W. James Potter

W. James Potter, professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, holds one PhD in Communication Studies and another in Instructional Technology. He has been teaching media courses for more than two decades in the areas of effects on individuals and society, content narratives, structure and economics of media industries, advertising, and journalism. He has served as editor of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media and is the author of many journal articles and several dozen books, including: Media Effects; Media Literacy, 10th edition; The 11 Myths of Media Violence; Major Theories of Media Effects; Becoming a... More About Author

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